editorNPR Digital Services RSS Generator 0.94Howard Berkes is a correspondent for the NPR Investigations Unit. Since 2010, Berkes has focused mostly on investigative projects, beginning with the Upper Big Branch coal mine disaster in West Virginia in which 29 workers died. Since then, Berkes has reported on coal mine and workplace safety, including the safety lapses at the Upper Big Branch mine, other failures in mine safety regulation , the resurgence of the deadly coal miners disease black lung , and weak enforcement of grain bin safety as worker deaths reached record levels. Berkes was part of the team that collaborated with the Center for Public Integrity in 2011 resulting in Poisoned Places , a series exploring weaknesses in air pollution regulation by states and EPA. In 2015 and 2016, Berkes collaborated with ProPublica on Insult to Injury , a series of stories about a "race to the bottom" in workers' compensation benefits across the country, which won the IRE Medal from Investigative Reporters & Editors, the nation's topNPR Digital Services RSS Generator 0.94Howard BerkesFri, 06 Oct 2017 06:40:25 +0000Howard Berkeshttp://wyso.org
Howard BerkesInvestigators in Las Vegas are sifting through evidence they've gathered from the homes of the man who sprayed a concert crowd with gunfire. They've begun to interview his girlfriend. They've learned quite a bit about Stephen Paddock's past and preparation, but there is still no explanation why he damaged and destroyed so many lives. Ken Russell is a retired wildlife biologist who lives in the same neighborhood where the Las Vegas shooter lived, in the sunny retirement community of Sun City Mesquite. That the carnage on Sunday night was carried out by someone living there was a shock, he said. "This is a quiet neighborhood," said Russell on Monday, as he walked among palm trees, cacti, and houses of stucco and tile. "All of them up here in Sun City are quiet. People are too old to make any commotion." That was the first surprise for investigators: that a 64-year-old man, an apparently wealthy retiree, a former postal worker, IRS agent and government auditor, would commit mass murder.Las Vegas Shooter's Life Comes Into Focus, But Not His Motivehttp://wyso.org/post/las-vegas-shooters-life-comes-focus-not-his-motive
100919 as http://wyso.orgFri, 06 Oct 2017 04:58:00 +0000Las Vegas Shooter's Life Comes Into Focus, But Not His MotiveHoward BerkesThe second-highest ranking member of the Florida Senate pledged a legislative review of a state law that has allowed injured undocumented workers to be arrested and potentially deported rather than paid workers' compensation benefits. "Legitimate injuries shouldn't be denied just because the person was an undocumented immigrant," said Republican Sen. Anitere Flores, the president pro tempore of the state Senate and chairwoman of the Banking and Insurance Committee. "One needs to balance the going after fraudulent claims," she said, "with not overcompensating and then denying claims to those individuals who have actually been injured." Flores spoke in response to a recent NPR and ProPublica investigation and a subsequent statement by the nation's largest insurance fraud group, which called on Florida lawmakers to change the law. The Coalition Against Insurance Fraud said employers and insurance companies are applying the law in ways that place "the credibility of combating real fraud atFlorida Lawmakers To Review Law Targeting Injured Undocumented Workershttp://wyso.org/post/florida-lawmakers-review-law-targeting-injured-undocumented-workers
99394 as http://wyso.orgThu, 24 Aug 2017 12:01:00 +0000Florida Lawmakers To Review Law Targeting Injured Undocumented WorkersHoward BerkesNPR's ongoing investigation of the advanced stage of the fatal lung disease that afflicts coal miners has identified an additional 1,000 cases in Appalachia. That brings the NPR count of progressive massive fibrosis, the most serious stage of the disease known as black lung, to nearly 2,000 cases in the region, all of which were diagnosed since 2010. In the same period, researchers at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health reported just 99 cases nationwide. NPR's count is now 20 times what had been considered the official tally of the advanced stage of disease. NPR contacted black lung clinics, physicians and attorneys across the country. Seventeen in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia and Kentucky provided data. Their diagnoses of advanced disease have not been independently confirmed. But the actual occurrence of disease is likely higher because many clinics across the region and the country were unable to provide data and because others didn't have dataNPR Continues To Find Hundreds Of Cases Of Advanced Black Lunghttp://wyso.org/post/npr-continues-find-hundreds-cases-advanced-black-lung
97232 as http://wyso.orgSat, 01 Jul 2017 10:00:00 +0000NPR Continues To Find Hundreds Of Cases Of Advanced Black LungHoward BerkesAcross Appalachia, coal miners are suffering from the most serious form of the deadly mining disease black lung in numbers more than 10 times what federal regulators report, an NPR investigation has found. The government, through the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, reported 99 cases of "complicated" black lung, or progressive massive fibrosis, throughout the country the last five years. But NPR obtained data from 11 black lung clinics in Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio, which reported a total of 962 cases so far this decade. The true number is probably even higher, because some clinics had incomplete records and others declined to provide data. "The actual extent of PMF in U.S. coal miners remains unclear," says the report, which appears in this week's issue of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "I can't say that I've heard really anything worse than this in my career," saysAdvanced Black Lung Cases Surge In Appalachiahttp://wyso.org/post/advanced-black-lung-cases-surge-appalachia
89555 as http://wyso.orgThu, 15 Dec 2016 23:13:00 +0000Advanced Black Lung Cases Surge In AppalachiaHoward BerkesWest Virginia's Democratic candidate for governor is a billionaire, a philanthropist and a resort and coal mine owner who cites his business and mining experience as major attributes as he seeks to lead his home state out of a severe budget and economic crisis. "I am not a career politician; I am a career businessman," wrote Jim Justice in an April 5 op-ed that appeared in the Charleston Gazette-Mail . But an NPR investigation shows that Justice's mining companies still fail to pay millions of dollars in mine safety penalties two years after an earlier investigation documented the same behavior. Our analysis of federal data shows that Justice is now the nation's top mine safety delinquent. His mining companies owe $15 million in six states, including property and minerals taxes, state coal severance and withholding taxes, and federal income, excise and unemployment taxes, as well as mine safety penalties, according to county, state and federal records. In the past 16 months, whileBillionaire Gubernatorial Candidate Owes $15 Million In Taxes And Fineshttp://wyso.org/post/billionaire-gubernatorial-candidate-owes-15-million-taxes-and-fines
86966 as http://wyso.orgFri, 07 Oct 2016 10:00:00 +0000Billionaire Gubernatorial Candidate Owes $15 Million In Taxes And FinesAn Oklahoma law that lets employers opt out of state-regulated workers' compensation has been rejected and declared unconstitutional by state regulators. The Oklahoma Workers' Compensation Commission called the alternative workplace-benefit plans that some employers adopted under the law "a water mirage on the highway that disappears upon closer inspection." The unanimous ruling by the commission, issued Friday, is expected to be appealed. NPR and ProPublica have also learned that the U.S. Department of Labor is looking at whether opt-out plans in Oklahoma and Texas violate federal law. Since 2013, employers in Oklahoma have had the ability to set up their own workplace injury plans and avoid state-regulated workers' comp benefits. An NPR and ProPublica analysis of Oklahoma's opt-out plans shows that most provide fewer benefits, make it easier for employers to deny benefits, give employers control over medical assessment and treatment, leave appeals in the hands of employers, and forceOklahoma Commission Declares Workers' Comp Alternative Unconstitutionalhttp://wyso.org/post/oklahoma-commission-declares-workers-comp-alternative-unconstitutional
78125 as http://wyso.orgMon, 29 Feb 2016 22:28:00 +0000Oklahoma Commission Declares Workers' Comp Alternative UnconstitutionalHoward BerkesThirty years ago, as the nation mourned the loss of seven astronauts on the space shuttle Challenger, Bob Ebeling was steeped in his own deep grief. The night before the launch, Ebeling and four other engineers at NASA contractor Morton Thiokol had tried to stop the launch. Their managers and NASA overruled them. That night, he told his wife, Darlene, "It's going to blow up." When Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff, Ebeling and his colleagues sat stunned in a conference room at Thiokol's headquarters outside Brigham City, Utah. They watched the spacecraft explode on a giant television screen and they knew exactly what had happened. Three weeks later, Ebeling and another engineer separately and anonymously detailed to NPR the first account of that contentious pre-launch meeting. Both were despondent and in tears as they described hours of data review and arguments. The data showed that the rubber seals on the shuttle's booster rockets wouldn't seal properly in cold30 Years After Explosion, Challenger Engineer Still Blames Himselfhttp://wyso.org/post/30-years-after-disaster-challenger-engineer-still-blames-himself
76833 as http://wyso.orgThu, 28 Jan 2016 23:24:00 +000030 Years After Explosion, Challenger Engineer Still Blames HimselfHoward BerkesKevin Schiller had no idea what hit him. With 21 years on the job, the building engineer for Macy's department stores had been in and out of every nook and cranny of many of the retail giant's Texas stores, including the storage room in the Macy's in Denton, Texas. One minute, the stocky, 6-foot-2 Schiller was searching there for a floor drain. The next, he was sprawled on the floor, stunned, confused and bleeding slightly. "All I heard was a loud crack and I found myself looking up on people looking down on me," Schiller recalls more than five years later. "They saw the mannequin hit me in the head and it drove my head into a shelf and then after that my head hit the cement." The mannequin fell 12 feet from the highest shelf. Schiller has hardly worked since, given persistent headaches, memory loss, disorientation and extreme sensitivity to bright light and loud sound. He now has to post notes on the front door and refrigerator of his apartment, reminding him to take medications andFederal Workplace Law Fails To Protect Employees Left Out Of Workers' Comphttp://wyso.org/post/federal-workplace-law-fails-protect-employees-left-out-workers-compensation
76493 as http://wyso.orgThu, 21 Jan 2016 10:11:00 +0000Federal Workplace Law Fails To Protect Employees Left Out Of Workers' CompHoward BerkesBilly Doyle Walker loved working in the sky. He used to say he could see forever, perched high up communications towers as he applied fresh paint. Three years ago, working halfway up a 300-foot steel tower at the LBJ Ranch, the panoramic view included the rolling green hills and meadows of the Texas Hill Country. The tower was used by former President Lyndon B. Johnson to communicate with the White House. Walker's wife, Krystle Meloy, was 23 then. She was home at the couple's apartment in New Braunfels, Texas, with their 4-month-old daughter, Kaylee, when several of Walker's co-workers unexpectedly knocked at the door. "They just walked in very silent," Meloy recalls, tears forming in her eyes. "They said Billy fell and he's on his way to the morgue. And I said, 'What?'... I just fell. And we all just started crying." What happened next to Meloy and Kaylee is indicative of an emerging trend in how workers and their families are compensated following workplace injuries or deaths. NearlyOpt-Out Plans Let Companies Work Without Workers' Comphttp://wyso.org/post/texas-oklahoma-permit-companies-dump-worker-compensation-plans
72449 as http://wyso.orgWed, 14 Oct 2015 09:01:00 +0000Opt-Out Plans Let Companies Work Without Workers' CompHoward BerkesThe nation's coal miners have lost an advocate — a pulmonologist who helped create a national movement in the 1960's that focused national attention on the deadly coal miners' disease known as black lung. Dr. Donald Rasmussen died July 23 at age 87 in Beckley, W.V., where he spent close to 50 years assessing, studying and treating coal miners — more than 40,000 of them, by his account. His work documenting the occurrence of black lung helped trigger a statewide miners strike in West Virginia in 1969. Congress responded with landmark legislation limiting miners' exposure to coal dust and providing compensation for miners stricken with the disease. "There were those people who said, 'Well there's no point in doing anything about it.' After all, only four or five percent of coal miners are going to develop lung disease and die," Rasmussen recalled in a 2012 NPR interview . "That's still quite a few," Rasmussen said, adding that the public health response should be "For heaven's sake, thisDoctor Who Crusaded For Coal Miners' Health Dies At 87http://wyso.org/post/doctor-who-crusaded-coal-miners-health-dies-87
69416 as http://wyso.orgTue, 04 Aug 2015 20:29:00 +0000Doctor Who Crusaded For Coal Miners' Health Dies At 87Howard BerkesThe inspector general of the Labor Department is conducting an audit of the Mine Safety and Health Administration 's handling of delinquent mine safety penalties. The audit comes six months after NPR and Mine Safety and Health News reported the failure of federal regulators to collect nearly $70 million in overdue safety fines. Most are two to 10 years late; some go back decades. The audit targets the "civil monetary penalty assessment and collection process" at MSHA, the agency responsible for enforcing mine safety laws and regulations. An MSHA spokeswoman says the agency does not comment on inspector general investigations. "This is the beginning phase," says Luiz Santos, the inspector general's congressional and media liaison. "We haven't yet determined the scope or objectives of the audit." Santos says the NPR/MSHN series was circulated in the inspector general's office and "was very informative to us." The series showed that 2,700 delinquent mine owners were cited for 130,000Feds Probe Failure To Collect Mine Safety Penalties After NPR Report http://wyso.org/post/feds-probe-failure-collect-mine-safety-penalties-after-npr-report
65864 as http://wyso.orgThu, 14 May 2015 09:33:00 +0000Feds Probe Failure To Collect Mine Safety Penalties After NPR Report Howard BerkesThe tattoos on Dennis Whedbee's left arm describe what he lost when the North Dakota oil rig where he was working blew out in 2012. There's an image of a severed hand spurting blood, framed by the word "LOST" in block letters and the date: "9-23-12." The message underscores Whedbee's frustration with a workers' compensation system in which benefits and access to benefits have changed in North Dakota and across the country. "I lost a hand at work and this is workman's comp," Whedbee, 53, says at his home in Pennsylvania. "Give me what I deserve. I deserve a hand." Whedbee's orthopedic surgeon said he was a perfect candidate for a high-tech myoelectric arm and hand, which are routinely provided to workplace amputees in other states. The $70,000 device mirrors the look and function of a human limb. But the workers' compensation system in North Dakota instead opted for a mechanical arm with a hook, which costs $50,000 less. "I lost a hand working in North Dakota," Whedbee says. "I didn't'I Lost A Hand And This Is Workman's Comp. ... I Didn't Lose A Hook!'http://wyso.org/post/i-lost-hand-and-workmans-comp-i-didnt-lose-hook
65042 as http://wyso.orgSat, 25 Apr 2015 12:07:00 +0000'I Lost A Hand And This Is Workman's Comp. ... I Didn't Lose A Hook!'Howard BerkesFederal lawmakers have revived a mine safety reform bill that addresses a regulatory failure detailed in a joint investigation by NPR and Mine Safety and Health News. The Robert C. Byrd Mine Safety Protection Act includes a provision that directly addresses the Mine Safety and Health Administration's (MSHA) failure to fully enforce penalties for safety violations at the nation's mines. As NPR and Mine Safety Health News reported in November , thousands of mines with unpaid safety penalties had a significantly higher rate of injury and were able to escape payment of $70 million in safety fines. Most fines were years overdue. Some went unpaid for decades. The Byrd Act would shut down mines that are more than six months late in paying safety penalties or have defaulted on payment plans. "A tool like that ... would probably change the attitude of that mine operator," said MSHA Chief Joe Main at a hearing Thursday before the House Subcommittee on Mine Safety Enforcement. "It would put themDelinquent Mines: Congress Revives Bill To Hold Mine Owners Accountablehttp://wyso.org/post/delinquent-mines-congress-revives-bill-hold-mine-owners-accountable
64978 as http://wyso.orgThu, 23 Apr 2015 22:55:00 +0000Delinquent Mines: Congress Revives Bill To Hold Mine Owners AccountableHoward BerkesFrances Stevens could have been a contender. She was training to be a Golden Gloves boxer and working as a magazine publisher in 1997 when 1,000 copies of the latest issue arrived at her San Francisco office. "I'd just turned 30. I was an athlete. I had a job that I loved, a life that I loved," she recalls. "And in a second my life changed." Stevens tripped on a rug and broke her foot as she carried boxes of magazines. The relatively simple break triggered serious nerve damage and she was eventually diagnosed with chronic or complex regional pain syndrome . Seventeen years later, the pain is so bad that at times she can't walk. She can't bear contact with bedsheets or socks. Even a shower's spray is excruciating. "I've asked to have my feet amputated," Stevens says. "It's just so painful." Injured and disabled workers like Stevens turn to the nation's workers' compensation system for medical treatment, as well as weekly payments that help replace lost wages. But some are finding itEmployers And Insurers Gain Control In Workers' Compensation Disputeshttp://wyso.org/post/employers-and-insurers-gain-control-workers-compensation-disputes
63821 as http://wyso.orgMon, 30 Mar 2015 11:33:00 +0000Employers And Insurers Gain Control In Workers' Compensation DisputesHoward BerkesAt the time of their accidents, Jeremy Lewis was 27, Josh Potter 25. The men lived within 75 miles of each other. Both were married with two children about the same age. Both even had tattoos of their children's names. Their injuries, suffered on the job at Southern industrial plants, were remarkably similar, too. Each man lost a portion of his left arm in a machinery accident. After that, though, their paths couldn't have diverged more sharply: Lewis received $45,000 in workers' compensation for the loss of his arm. Potter was awarded benefits that could surpass $740,000 over his lifetime. The reason: Lewis lived and worked in Alabama, which has the nation's lowest workers' comp benefits for amputations. Potter had the comparative good fortune of losing his arm across the border in Georgia, which is far more generous when it comes to such catastrophic injuries. This disparity grimly illustrates the geographic lottery that governs compensation for workplace injuries in America.As Workers' Comp Varies From State To State, Workers Pay The Pricehttp://wyso.org/post/workers-comp-varies-state-state-workers-pay-price
62800 as http://wyso.orgFri, 06 Mar 2015 10:03:00 +0000As Workers' Comp Varies From State To State, Workers Pay The PriceHoward BerkesA federal appeals court has vacated a sweeping gag order in the criminal case involving former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship and the 2010 Upper Big Branch coal mine disaster . More than two dozen news organizations, including The Charleston Gazette and NPR, filed appeals after U.S. District Judge Irene Berger sealed nearly all documents in the case and issued a broad gag order silencing attorneys, potential witnesses and families of the 29 victims of the mine disaster. On Thursday, the three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., commended Judge Berger's "sincere and forthright proactive effort to ensure to the maximum extent possible that Blankenship's right to a fair trial before an impartial jury will be protected" but concluded the order must be vacated. "The public enjoys a qualified right to access to criminal trials, pretrial proceedings, and 'documents submitted in the course of a trial," the appeals panel wrote. "The public will not beU.S. Appeals Court Overturns Gag Order In Mine Disaster Casehttp://wyso.org/post/us-appeals-court-overturns-gag-order-mine-disaster-case
62764 as http://wyso.orgThu, 05 Mar 2015 18:04:00 +0000U.S. Appeals Court Overturns Gag Order In Mine Disaster CaseHoward BerkesWorkers injured on the job are supposed to get guaranteed medical care and money to live on. Employers and their insurance companies pay for that. And in return, employers don't get sued for workplace accidents. But this "grand bargain," as it's called, in workers' compensation, seems to be unraveling. NPR and ProPublica report on the changes to workers' compensation laws and how that's putting more of the costs back onto the families and government. Copyright 2015 NPR. To see more, visit Transcript DAVID GREENE, HOST: Some call it a grand bargain in the American workplace - if you're injured on the job, you're supposed to get guaranteed medical care and money to live on. Employers and their insurance companies pay for that and in return employers don't get sued for workplace accidents. But this grand bargain, the system of workers' compensation, seems to be unraveling. That's according to an investigation we've been hearing about this week from ProPublica and NPR's Howard Berkes.'Grand Bargain' In Workers' Comp Unravels, Harming Injured Workers Furtherhttp://wyso.org/post/grand-bargain-workers-comp-unravels-harming-injured-workers-further
62752 as http://wyso.orgThu, 05 Mar 2015 14:19:00 +0000'Grand Bargain' In Workers' Comp Unravels, Harming Injured Workers FurtherHoward BerkesA few hours after ProPublica and NPR issued the first in a series of reports about workers' compensation "reforms" sweeping the country, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration coincidentally released a paper linking workplace injuries to income inequality. The OSHA paper and ProPublica/NPR stories come to similar conclusions about how some injured workers have been affected by a decade of changes in workers' compensation laws, including cutbacks in benefits and more difficulty in getting benefits. But OSHA goes on to say that many injured workers and their families find themselves in "a trap which leaves them less able to save for the future or to make the investments in skills and education that provide the opportunity for advancement." Among the paper's other major points: On average, injured workers earn $31,000 or 15 percent less in the 10 years following a workplace injury Employers pay only 21 percent of the costs of workplace injuries through workers' compensation.Federal Regulators Link Workers' Comp Failures To Income Inequalityhttp://wyso.org/post/federal-regulators-link-workers-comp-failures-income-inequality
62738 as http://wyso.orgThu, 05 Mar 2015 09:03:00 +0000Federal Regulators Link Workers' Comp Failures To Income InequalityHoward BerkesDennis Whedbee's crew was rushing to prepare an oil well for pumping on the Sweet Grass Woman lease site, a speck of dusty plains rich with crude in Mandaree, N.D. It was getting late that September afternoon in 2012. Whedbee, a 50-year-old derrick hand, was helping another worker remove a pipe fitting on top of the well when it suddenly blew. Oil and sludge pressurized at more than 700 pounds per square inch tore into Whedbee's body, ripping his left arm off just below the elbow. Co-workers jury-rigged a tourniquet from a sweatshirt and a ratchet strap to stanch his bleeding and got his wife on the phone. "Babe," he said, "tell everyone I love them." It was exactly the sort of accident that workers' compensation was designed for. Until recently, America's workers could rely on a compact struck at the dawn of the Industrial Age: They'd give up their right to sue. In exchange, if they were injured on the job, their employers would pay their medical bills and enough of their wages toInjured Workers Suffer As 'Reforms' Limit Workers' Compensation Benefitshttp://wyso.org/post/injured-workers-suffer-reforms-limit-workers-compensation-benefits
62683 as http://wyso.orgWed, 04 Mar 2015 10:04:00 +0000Injured Workers Suffer As 'Reforms' Limit Workers' Compensation BenefitsHoward BerkesTwo weeks after NPR and Mine Safety and Health News reported nearly $70 million in delinquent mine safety penalties at more than 4,000 coal and mineral mines, federal regulators suddenly revived a rare approach to force mines to pay. They cited a delinquent coal mine for failing to pay $30,000 in overdue penalties and gave the mine's owner two weeks to pay. He didn't, so the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) shut down the mine. Within 40 minutes, mine officials agreed to a payment plan and the mine reopened. It sounds like a straightforward and tough response, but it might not stand up to legal scrutiny. Federal law doesn't give MSHA the authority to shut down mines simply because they haven't paid their safety penalties. But the agency can force a mine to fix safety violations. In this case, the failure to pay penalties is considered an unfixed violation. "The operator in this particular case did not challenge that legally. Somebody's going to," says Larry Grayson, a mineRegulators Take Action Against Delinquent Mineshttp://wyso.org/post/regulators-take-action-against-delinquent-mines
60415 as http://wyso.orgMon, 12 Jan 2015 10:02:00 +0000Regulators Take Action Against Delinquent Mines